Leah Rabin, the widow of assassinated Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, has died of cancer, hospital officials announced on Sunday.
Leah Rabin, 72, had been undergoing treatment for lung cancer for many months.
She had been hospitalised at the Beillinson hospital in the Tel Aviv suburb of Petah Tikva since November 3, the hospital said in a statement.
Her death comes just a few days after Israel commemorated the fifth anniversary of the murder of Rabin, who was killed on November 4, 1995 by a Jewish extremist angry at his peace policies.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said that all of Israel was in mourning for Leah Rabin.
"The government of Israel and I as its leader as well as all the people of Israel are in mourning for Leah Rabin, a courageous and strong woman," Barak told Israeli army radio from the plane taking him to the United States.
Leah Rabin did not take part in a peace rally held on November 4 in Tel Aviv in memory of her husband.
Her death was also announced by former Israeli prime minister Shimon Peres.
Peres and Rabin shared the Nobel peace prize with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat after the signing of the Oslo peace accords in 1993 -- JERUSALEM (AFP)
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